Device and method for forming a set of cells for time difference measurements and for measuring time differences for locating a user of a mobile terminal

ABSTRACT

A method and device are provided, for locating a user of a mobile terminal, for forming a set of cells for time difference measurements for a mobile terminal camped on a first cell of a cellular network and being in idle mode, the method including the steps of: receiving a first set of cell identifiers of neighboring cells for the first cell, with each of the neighboring cells sending a radio signal on synchronization channels; and measuring the received signal strength for cells having identifiers which are included in the first set, with a number N of cells having a signal strength exceeding a predefined threshold constituting a set of available cells; wherein the improvement includes the steps of: reading the synchronization channels for the set of available cells, thereby measuring time differences for the set of available cells; and selecting a second set from the set of available cells using a predefined selection rule, the second set including M&lt;N cells, thus forming a new set of cells for time difference measurements.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No.10/777,880, filed on Feb. 11, 2004.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Technology

The present invention relates to forming a set of cells for timedifference measurements and, more specifically, to measuring such timedifferences for locating a user of a mobile terminal.

2. Background

If someone is in trouble or notices something alarming happening anddials an emergency number, such as 112 in Europe or 911 in the US, theemergency services (police, ambulance, fire department) need to knowwhere the help is needed. A caller may, especially under difficultcircumstances, such as at night or in a location not known to thecaller, find it extremely difficult to give route guidance for theemergency services.

Mobile terminals are widely used. Their penetration has in manycountries reached and exceeded 900 of the total population. As aconsequence, most people are carrying a mobile terminal with themselveswhile being away from home.

Cellular networks can be arranged to measure the coordinates of a mobileterminal of a subscriber under network coverage. One of thestraightforward solutions then is to use this location information ofthe mobile terminal for locationing the subscriber who is calling anemergency number.

In the US, each cellular carrier is required to implement the E911service as required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) inits order FCC 02-283 which, at the time of writing (Feb. 3, 2003), canbe found on the Internet at the address: http:/hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocspublic/attachmatch/FCC-02283A1.pdf.

Originally, the locationing accuracy in the so-called Phase II was firstspecified to 100 meters for 670 of calls and 300 meters for 95% ofcalls. From early October 2003, however, the locationing accuracy willbe enhanced to 50 meters for 67% of calls and 150 meters for 95% ofcalls, which can be found at. http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/wireless/NewsReleases/2001/nw1012 7a.pdf.

For the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), the locationingis usually performed by using the so-called Enhanced Observed TimeDifference E-OTD method.

It is possible to make the locationing measurements in idle mode, thiskind of approach being used by some manufacturers. Typically, thelocationing interval is approximately 10 seconds. Then, the locationinghistory is already known by the mobile terminal MS when it entersdedicated mode. Not only the location but also speed and direction, ifany, can be determined.

Other manufacturers do not use idle mode measurements. Rather, thelocation of the mobile terminal is found out only at the beginning ofeach 911 or 112 call. Presently, such manufacturers have at least someproblems in obtaining the desired accuracy. According to some opinions,in order to achieve the accuracy requirements it is necessary to executeidle mode measurements for neighboring cells.

The problem with the state-of-the-art solutions is that the continuouslyperformed measurement of time differences consumes a great deal ofpower, significantly reducing the standby time of the mobile terminal.As such, the battery of the mobile terminals needs to be recharged quiteoften. This is an undue burden for most mobile subscribers because themobility of the user is, obviously, substantially limited while thebattery of the mobile terminal is being recharged.

One solution for channel measurements, as disclosed in internationalpatent application WO 2001/58201, is for the mobile terminal to receivea neighbor cell list f from a base station. Channel quality measurementsare performed for the cells on the list based on the location of themobile device. This is performed in order to reduce the powerconsumption in the terminal.

The solution proposed in WO 2001/582-1 is, however, far from optimal forlocationing measurements. It cannot be used if the location of themobile station is not known. Further, it has turned out to be extremelydifficult to construct neighbor cell lists in such a manner that theywould not only provide enough cell reselection possibilities but alsoenable good enough quality for time difference measurements still savingpower in the mobile terminal.

EP 0 930 513 A2 presents a cellular radio network based positioningsystem for determining the position of a mobile station. For each basetransceiver station or cell of the network, a fixed list of basetransceiver stations is stored by a mobile positioning center. Each listidentifies those base transceiver stations which enable the position ofa mobile station served by the corresponding base transceiver station tobe optimally determined. The list is transmitted to the mobile stationvia the serving base transceiver station and the mobile stationdetermines an observed time difference for each of the listed basetransceiver stations, relative to the serving base transceiver station,from signals broadcast by the listed base transceiver stations. Theobserved time differences are transmitted from the mobile station to theserving base transceiver station and are used by the network to computethe position of the mobile station.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, the present invention proposes a method and a device withwhich it is possible to form a set of cells for time differencemeasurements and to perform the measuring of time differences and thelocationing of a user of a mobile terminal more economically; thus,using less power in the mobile terminal.

A prior art method for forming a set of cells for time differencemeasurements for a mobile terminal camped on a first cell of a cellularnetwork and being in idle mode includes the steps of: 1) receiving afirst set of cell identifiers of neighboring cells for the first cell,with each of the cells sending a radio signal; and 2) measuring receivedsignal strength for cells, the identifiers of which are included in thefirst set, with a number N of cells having a signal strength exceeding apredefined threshold constituting a set of available cells.

This prior art method can be improved upon by further performing thesteps of: 3) reading a synchronization channel for the set of availablecells, thereby measuring time differences for available cells; and then4) selecting a second set from the set of available cells using apredefined selection rule, the second set including M<N cells and thusforming a new set of cells for time difference measurements. Theadvantage obtained by the improvement is that the resulting second setis more compact than the set of available cells.

The enhanced method for forming a second set of cells for timedifference measurements for a mobile terminal camped on a cell of acellular network and being in idle mode can be used for enhancing theefficiency of measuring of time differences for the mobile terminalcamped on the cell measuring time differences for cells in the secondset only. In this manner, the mobile terminal saves energy and thestandby time is prolonged.

In particular, a cell from the set of available cells is selected to thesecond set whenever: 1) a base station identity code of the cell is notequal to a base station identity code of any other cell available; or 2)a base station identity code of the cell is equal to a base stationidentity code of any other cell available, and 2a) its measured timedifference deviates from measured time differences for other cellssharing the same base station identity code more than a predefinedthreshold, or 2b) it has the largest signal strength among all cellssharing the same base station identity code and has a measured timedifference deviating less than or equal to the predefined threshold. Theadvantage of such a mapping rule is that, in particular, cells havingsame base station identity code need not be measured if it is veryprobable that the cells belong to one sectorized base station. Using allsuch cells for obtaining more time differences, especially forlocationing purposes, would only consume more energy without bringingmuch detailed positioning information.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the location of auser can be obtained using time differences obtained in accordance withother aspects of the present invention. One advantage from this is thatthe positioning system may be compatible with the mobile terminal, andcan handle a smaller number of time differences than expected, forexample.

Additional features and advantages of the present invention aredescribed in, and will be apparent from, the following DetailedDescription and the Figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a typical cellular network, such as a GSM network.

FIG. 2 shows exemplary cells of the cellular network from FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows how E-OTD measurements are performed in prior artsolutions.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an algorithm using which a set of cellsis selected and then further used for measuring time differences.

FIG. 5 is an example showing some aspects of cell selection performedaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a typical cellular network 100, such as a GSM network.Characteristic for the cellular network 100 is that it includes a numberof base stations 104. Each of these base stations 104 forms a cell 103a, 103 b, 103 c. FIG. 1 shows only a small proportion of cells 103 forthe sake of clarity. A mobile station 101 camps on one of the cells 103a, 103 b, 103 c. In other words, when the mobile station 101 is campingon cell 103 a, it is under radio coverage of base station 104 a.

Typically, base stations 104 are adapted to form cells in such a mannerthat some cells 103 overlap with each other. Such a construction enablesa flexible changing from one cell 104 to another. When the mobilestation 101 is in a dedicated mode, such as when there is an ongoingphone call, the changing from one cell 104 to another is calledhandover. When the mobile station 101 is in idle mode, the changing fromone cell 104 to another is called cell reselection. Typically, cellreselection or handovers are performed when the mobile terminal 101 hasmoved so that the quality of the radio connection between the basestation 104 and the mobile station 101 starts to degrade. When the cellreselection includes changing a location area, this is reported to theBSC.

In order to decide whether a handover or cell reselection is necessary,and to which cell the handover or cell reselection should be made, themobile station 101 continuously measures received signal strength of itsS neighboring cells.

Usually, in order to avoid interference, each cell has a frequencydifferent than its neighboring cell. There are also more than onecellular network 100 overlapping, such that a subscriber roaming undernetwork 100 may not be able to use a different network geographicallycovering the same area. This is one of the reasons why each cell 103 hasa so-called neighbor list, sometimes referred to as the BA list. Theneighbor list is a cell-based list which includes identifiers of suchclosest neighbors for the cell 103 which belong to the same cellularnetwork 100. The mobile terminal 101 therefore measures the signalstrengths of only the cells 103 having identifiers which were includedin the neighbor list.

The cellular network 100 knows the location of mobile terminal 101 inaccuracy of a location area LA. Typically, an LA includes several cells103 a, 103 b, 103 c. Visitor Location Register 110 knows which LA themobile terminal 101 is under and when a call is terminating to themobile terminal 101. It is paged via a Base Station Controller BSC 106.BSC is the element which controls a number of the base stations 104.Usually, a cellular network 100 also includes a number of BSCs. TheMobile Switching Center MSC 108 coordinates the different BSCs 106 andthen takes care of switching of the traffic to and from different mobileterminals 101. The MSC 108 is usually connected via a Gateway MSC 112 toother cellular networks 100B having a similar structure.

This kind of hierarchy and operational model enables the roaming ofmobile station 101, originally coming from another cellular network100B, under cellular network 100. The cellular network 100B has its ownsubscribers, the data about whom is stored in Home Location Register HLR114. The HLR 114 includes all services, etc., which are provided for agiven subscriber of the cellular network 100B. In general, in order toreach a subscriber, the HLR 114 knows the VLR 110 address which thesubscriber is under.

For locationing purposes, there are Location Services Centers LCS 109connected into cellular network 100. AN LCS 109 is used, for example,when a subscriber is missing. As explained above, the cellular network100 knows within the accuracy of a location area LA where the user is,whereas the other cellular network 100B knows only in the accuracy of aVLR 110 area where the user is. Basically, the locationing of the useror mobile terminal 101 can be performed from LCS 109B from cellularnetwork 100B as well, if the operators of cellular networks 100 and 100Bhave agreed as such.

Because of some legislative considerations, there are usually noproblems for an authorized user making a query to LCS 109B if thesubscriber is roaming under his/her home cellular network 100B. If theauthorities are looking for the user in the geographical area of his/herown cellular network 100B but he/she is roaming under cellular network100, the authorities need to collaborate with authorities authorized inmaking LCS inquiries for LCS 109.

FIG. 2 shows exemplary cells of a cellular network 100. The mobileterminal 101 is camping on cell A having dimensions denoted by curveC_(A). The cell A has neighboring cells B, C, and D. Cell C is asectorized cell, so that it includes three sectorizedtransmitter/receiver units TRX. The sectors C1, C2, and C3 havedimensions denoted by curves C_(C1), C_(C2), C_(C3), respectively. CellsB and D have dimensions denoted by curves CB and CD. The position of themobile station 101 is denoted by point P.

FIG. 3 shows the principle of how state-of-the-art locationingmeasurements are performed. Typically, such measurements are used toproduce Enhanced Observed Time Difference E-OTD information, which thencan be used to interpret the quite accurate location of the user.

When the mobile terminal camps on cell A, it receives the neighbor listfrom cell A. The neighbor list includes Absolute Radio Frequency ChannelNumber ARFCN of the Broadcast Control Channel BCCH. The ARFCN is used toselect the right frequency from the multitude of different frequencies.The synchronization channel of all the cells in the neighbor list isread before their base station identity codes BSIC can be obtained. BCCHis used to send controlling information to downlink direction, suchcontrolling information including synchronization frames which are sentin the part of the BCCH known as the Synchronization Channel SCH.

The mobile terminal measures received signal strength for the cellsincluded in the neighbor list. It then decides to read the SCH for thosecells having a signal strength exceeds a predefined threshold; i.e.,which are available. The moment at which the receiving of a data framein the synchronization table begins is marked as Time of Arrival TOA forthe cell.

In this simple example, cell A has a Base Station Identifier Code BSIC“A.” BSIC is “B” for cell B, “C” for sectors C1 and C2, and “D” for cellD. Sector C3 is below the predefined threshold; i.e., mobile terminal101 cannot hear it well enough.

Cell A has BCCH “a.” For B, the BCCH is “b,” for sector C1 and C2 “c1”and “c2”, respectively, and for D the BCCH is “d.”

TOA of A is T_(A), of B T_(B), of C1 T_(c1), of C2 T_(c2), and of DT_(D).

As such, the OTD is T_(B)−T_(A) for cell B, T_(c1)−T_(A) for sector C1,and T_(c2)−T_(A) for sector C2. For cell D, the OTD is T_(D)−T_(A). Theprinciple thus is that the time difference is computed as the differencefrom the serving cell A.

The mobile station 101 keeps on measuring all the OTDs periodically. Themeasurement period depends on the particular implementation, but a 10second interval between measurements is sufficiently satisfactory forlocationing purposes.

FIG. 4 shows one particular aspect of the present invention. In stepL11, mobile terminal 101 camps on cell A. In step L13 it receives aneighbor list of cell A, the neighbor list being referred to as thefirst set.

In step L15 the mobile terminal 101 measures the received signal levelfor each cell having an identifier which was in the neighbor list; i.e.,in the first set. In step L17, the mobile station 101 defines the set ofavailable cells. As described above, a cell is determined to beavailable if the received signal strength is above a predefinedthreshold value. In some implementations, only a limited number (such as6) of the strongest neighbor cells are selected, whereas for some otherimplementations all cells for which the received signal strength exceedsome value characteristic for 5 the mobile station are selected.

In step L19, the synchronization channel SCH is read for cellsavailable. In step L21, the mobile station 101 timer value at thebeginning of each synchronization frame is stored, this corresponding tomeasuring time differences for available cells. It is not necessary toread the SCH for measuring the time differences on all occasions.Depending on the cellular network structure, the timing also can bemeasured in some other way.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the second set is,in step L23, selected from the set of available cells using a predefinedselection rule. Then in step L25, synchronization channel SCH could beread for the cells which belong to the second set.

In step L27 the time differences are measured for cells havingidentifiers which are included in the second set only. The timer valueat the beginning of each synchronization frame is stored, thiscorresponding to measuring time differences for the cells in the secondset.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, a predefinedmapping rule reads, at least partially, that a cell from the set ofavailable cells is selected to the second set whenever:

1) a base station identity code of the cell is not equal to a basestation identity code of any other cell available; or 2) a base stationidentity code of the cell is equal to a base station identity code ofany other cell available, and 2a) its measured time difference deviatesfrom measured time differences for other cells sharing the same basestation identity code more than a predefined threshold, or 2b) it hasthe largest signal strength among all cells sharing the same basestation identity code and has a measured time difference deviating lessthan or equal to the predefined threshold.

In step L29, it is checked whether or not the synchronization channelhas to be read for all cells in the neighbor cell list; i.e., the cellsin the first set. This has to be performed occasionally. Specification3GPP TS 05.08 V7.7.0 defines (clause 6.6.1) that “The mobile stationshall attempt to check the BSIC for each of the 6 strongest non-servingcell BCCH carriers at least every 30 seconds, to confirm that it ismonitoring the same cell. If a change of BSIC is detected, then thecarrier shall be treated as a new carrier and the BCCH datare-determined.”

The exit criteria, for LOOP2 to be tested in step L29 may include any ora number of the following: i) LOOP2 has been executed a predeterminednumber of times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . . ) after performing step L15(counter expiry); ii) the mobile terminal 101 is changing from idle modeto dedicated mode; iii) the step L25 (i.e., reading the synchronizationchannel SCH for cells in the second set) has failed; iv) timer expiry,cell reselection; or v) neighbor list changed.

Option iii) corresponds to the case that the subscriber is moving andthe synchronization channel of at least some of the cells in the secondset cannot be received without errors.

If none of the exit criteria for LOOP2 is met, the execution of LOOP2 iscontinued; i.e., steps L25, L27, and L29 are repeated. If any of theexit criteria for LOOP2 is met, the LOOP1 is executed; i.e., the mobileterminal measures received signal level in step L15 and so on. However,if a new neighbor cell list is being received, then the LOOP1 extends tostep L13.

FIG. 5 shows some further considerations relating to the presentinvention. The contents of FIG. 5 include substantially everything fromFIG. 3. In addition, the column “COMPUTE Δ_(jk)” includes logical values“yes” and “no.” The contents of the column are decided based on the basestation identifier code BSIC. If BSIC is identical for any two cells,the COMPUTE Δ_(jk) is set to a true value. In the opposite case, it hasa false value.

Observed Time Difference OTD_(i) for an i:th entry is defined asfollows:OTD _(i) =TOA _(i) −TOA _(i),

for all 1<i<n+1; where TOA_(i) is the measured time of arrival i.e. thebeginning of the synchronization frame for the i:th entry, and theserving cell is the first entry.

The contents of one of the preferred mapping rules included thecondition “a cell is selected when its measured time difference deviatesfrom measured time differences for other cells sharing the same basestation identity code more than a predefined threshold”. In FIG. 5 termsthis can be put into the following context: $\begin{matrix}{\Delta_{jk} = {{{OTD}_{j} - {OTD}_{k}}}} \\{= {{{TOA}_{j} - {TOA}_{k}}}}\end{matrix}$

for all j≠k; and 1<j, i<n+1.

So now Δ₂₃=Δ₃₂=∥T_(c1)−T_(c2)∥. If this is below a predefined threshold,say ε, where ε/T_(c1) can be any relatively small value, say 2.5%-25%,it can be deduced with relative certainty that sectors C1 and C2 belongto the same cell with only one of them being selected.

As a consequence, only one of the sectors C1, C2 is selected to thesecond set in step L23 and the measurement of the sector not selectedcan be avoided. The selection rule “the cell having the largest signalstrength among all cells sharing the same base station identity code andhaving a measured time difference deviating less than or equal to thepredefined threshold” allows the received signal strength RXLEV in themobile terminal to be used to select the stronger cell or sector.

One of the main reasons behind this solution is that now the consecutivemeasurements of sectorized Base Stations 104 can be avoided. Thecomparison of the time differences is included in some embodiments ofthe present invention, because some operators are using base stationidentifiers repetitively. It would then endanger the success of thelocationing if the observed time difference OTD for such a cell wouldnot be measured.

Using a 10 second measurement interval, the standby time of a testmobile phone was reduced from 270 hours to roughly 90 hours. It is clearthat the 180 hour reduction in the standby time is highly significantfor the user. If an operator chooses to repeatedly use sectorized cells,the savings obtained by performing step L23 and repeating steps L25 andL27 instead of steps L19 and L21 saved, in our example, 25% of OTDmeasurements. As such, depending on the cellular network 100 structure,it is possible to obtain significantly better improvement in the standbytime because of smaller energy consumption in the mobile terminal 101.

Although the present invention was described above with reference tospecific embodiments, it should be clear that the present invention isnot limited to these but may be modified by those skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention asset forth in the hereafter appended claims. For example, any cellularnetwork having similar neighbor list and base station identifierstructure as described can be used. Such networks includes, for example,most GSM, GPRS and UMTS/WCDMA networks.

1. A method for locating a user of a mobile terminal, the methodcomprising the steps of: providing that the mobile terminal be camped ona first cell of a cellular network and is in idle mode; receiving, atthe mobile terminal, a first set of cell identifiers respectivelyassociated with neighboring cells of the first cell, with each of theneighboring cells sending a radio signal; measuring, at the mobileterminal, received signal strengths of the neighboring cells havingidentifiers which are included in the first set of cell identifiers,with a number N of cells having a signal strength exceeding a predefinedthreshold constituting a set of available cells; reading, at the mobileterminal, a synchronization channel for the set of available cells,thereby measuring time differences for the set of available cells;selecting, at the mobile terminal, a second set of cells from the set ofavailable cells using a predefined selection rule, the second set ofcells including M<N cells, wherein the predefined selection rule causesa non-selection of a cell having a same cell identity as another cell inthe set of available cells if it is probable that the cell which is notselected and the another cell belong to one sectorized base station;reading, at the mobile terminal, a synchronization channel for thesecond set of cells, thereby measuring time differences for the secondset of cells; and using the time difference measurements to obtain thelocation of the user.
 2. A method for locating a user of a mobileterminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein locationing is performed on thecellular network side in response to a transfer of the time differencemeasurements.
 3. A method for locating a user of a mobile terminal asclaimed in claim 2, wherein the transfer is performed in response to acall which is one of originated by the user and terminated to the user.4. A method for locating a user of a mobile terminal as claimed in claim3, wherein the call is an emergency service call.
 5. A mobile terminal,comprising: parts for receiving a first set of cell identifiersrespectively associated with neighboring cells of a first cell of acellular network on which the mobile terminal is camped, the mobileterminal being in idle mode, with each of the neighboring cells sendinga radio signal; parts for measuring received signal strengths of theneighboring cells having identifiers which are included in the first setof cell identifiers, with a number N of cells having a signal strengthexceeding a predefined threshold constituting a set of available cells;parts for reading a synchronization channel for the set of availablecells, thereby measuring time differences for the set of availablecells; parts for selecting a second set of cells from the set ofavailable cells using a predefined selection rule, the second set ofcells including M<N cells, wherein the predefined selection rule causesa non-selection of a cell having a same cell identity as another cell inthe set of available cells if it is probable that the cell which is notselected and the another cell belong to one sectorized base station;parts for reading a synchronization channel for the second set of cells,thereby measuring time differences for the second set of cells; andparts for using the time difference measurements to obtain a location ofthe user.
 6. A mobile terminal as claimed in claim 5, wherein the mobileterminal is a GSM terminal.